Sherlock Gnomes Review

More plain than it is ugly, and more humdrum than it is shrill, Sherlock Gnomes – a sequel to 2011’s lukewarmly received Gnomeo & Juliet – is the very definition of middle-of-the-road children’s entertainment. It contains nothing that is offensive, challenging, or complex, nor does it contain any great deal of wit, color, or imagination. It is something that may be distantly exciting for kids, and merely tolerable for adults, likely leaving the minds of both shortly after exiting the theater.

That Gnomes is insubstantial rather than dizzyingly frantic may come as a relief – indeed may even serve as a salve – to those who have been overfed on the sugar-fueled and/or vomitous kiddie films of recent vintage (The Emoji Movie, The Nut Job, etc.). Although I understand “merely average” is faint praise.